Or as I found it best phrased: "I guess if you enjoy doing a job ass backwards with twice the effort and in the end still won't hold a candle to a real tank spec then hey knock yourself out."

Oh wait a minute...

I forgot. This is a game and anything which is fun for you is a good use of your $15 a month. This isn't to say that I am likely to group with a panzerkin ever (99% due to never seeing), but that's just me and my $15 a month, not any dictation of what to do.

I remember a month or so ago seeing a mage trying to figure out the gear for uncrittable. Total waste of time. He won't be able to tank anything that he doesn't overgear (in the ilevel sense, obviously it's hard to truly overgear when wearing cloth for tanking) and certainly nothing even remotely resembling progression. And yet, so what? It's his fun to have or not have.

I wonder if WoW would be better off with more people wasting time and being stupid.

When huntards are laughing at you for trying to melee, there is a problem. Even priests (shadow/dis) are better equipped than mages for melee. It would be like trying to make a cloth wearing caster warrior. . .um if you want to beat on things, shouldnt you roll up a class designed for it?

Why not let the masses do what they please? Although I left WoW recently to "take a rest" from the elitist crowds, I realize that in the end I forgot that I was paying the $15 for my game.

If the "stupid" people want to do that, it makes for a better game for them, and thus they shouldn't give a damn what others think. Be in fact, I've had the urge lately to resubscribe and level from 1 to 80 completely naked. Will it get the "elite" crowd opinions going? Hell yes! But it would be entertaining for me and thus I would feel as if I made my money's worth.

The WoW issue is not the oversimplyfing of the game, its the over abundance of elite pricks who babble and moan about how others play their game instead of just playing theirs.

Absolutely 100% YES, we need more people doing stuff they're not supposed to. Just not, you know, in my progression raids! :p

A good friend of mine has a hunter on whom he's absolutely obsessed with tanking. No, you're not supposed to do it. No he doesn't try to do it in raids, yes it's hilarious watching him tank Utgarde Keep at level 80. He's also the hunter you definitely want around if you're healing in a raid and a mob breaks loose, but that's another matter.

My favourite boss fights in WOW have been the ones where you end up doing stuff the way you're not supposed to. High King Maulgar in Gruul's Lair? Tell the mages to get their tanking sets ready.

Wait, what?

That fight was an absolute blast as a mage. Instuctor Razuvious in Naxx was good in the same way, both in Vanilla and WotLK versions. Sometimes thinking out of the box can be fun, the trick is knowing when to do it.